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Tension
It feels like the least fun Christmas Eve ever here in Islamabad tonight. Voting in the Pakistani general election is due to start in ten hours, and every TV channel is running election coverage. They seem to have run out of new things to talk about, as such programmes do, but the tickers along the bottom of the screen are setting the mood: Armed Forces on High Alert...One Shot Dead in Lahore...42 Dead in Peshawar...Explosion in Quetta...30 More Suicide Bomb attacks Planned Reveals Suspect...
By around 10pm local time tomorrow we should have a result, and if the polls go against the way they are expected, and Musharraf's party doesn't come last, every one expects there to be trouble. At the same time, everyone is expecting the vote to be rigged to do just that. The next 24 hours, then, are going to need a lot of people to do the right thing for this country to escape further bloodshed.
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Ben Hammersley in the Philippines:
Ben Hammersley reporting from the Philippines from the end of August 2007. He posted his reports, pictures and videos on...
very very smile :) thanks